Being from vernacular medium the first ever mention of a Railgaadi
was through the poem, Zook Zook Zook Zook agingadi, dhuranchya resha havet
kadhi.....I have hummed and danced to the tunes of this song imagining the
railway engine and me sitting in the window enjoying the view outside.....every
stanza brought new excitement that was mainly achievable because of travelling
in this railway to Mama's village.
Another striking memory was when I was just about 5-7 years old.
We were returning from a relatives place and standing on platform awaiting the
local train when my eyes caught the sight of a toy seller with a huge variety
of cars and helicopters on display on the very platform. I asked my mom if I
can buy one, and we both were inspecting the cars driven by that small key
which you need to screw a few times and then the mechanical energy is stored
and released to propagate the vehicle in forward direction. While I
had almost finalized one jeep with a green hood and rubber driver installed in
front seat, the seller was giving us a test drive Baba appeared there and with
a sense of urgency picked up the toy from ground pushed it into mom's
bag thrust some odd rs. 20 in the sellers hands and hurried us both
into the local which had just arrived on platform. The one thing which is
common till day is the moment you decide to board a train, your entire living
force and stream of thoughts are diverted to this one goal of getting inside
and pushing your way through to the window seat. It's training or more of value
inculcated in us from the very childhood by the behavior of our elders. So
forgetting completely about the toy I pushed the people around with whatever horsepower
my little elbows could generate at that tender age and managed to get a
standing window seat, which was and still is(I believe) every kids favorite.
Then suddenly everybody startled by a strange cacophony of
fluttering sounds erupting from my mom’s bag. It even shook mom and
she handed over the bag to my dad, who instinctively opened up the bag and
took out the small jeep that the seller had given enough mechanical energy to
start running inside my mom's bag. Everyone burst out laughing when they realized what
must have transpired on the platform. The Jeep was quickly handed over to me,
which I was more than happy to get my hands on.
I have shared many of my most beautiful and vivid memories with
this carrier of all sorts and sure you have similar feelings as well. So here
is the blog dedicated to our beloved Railgaadi.
Yours,
S
